1919 Small Heath police raids

The 1919 Small Heath police raids occurred in the Small Heath neighborhood of Birmingham, England in 1919 when the constabulary, led by Inspector Chester Campbell, raided several apartments along Watery Lane in order to round up members of the Peaky Blinders, the IRA, and communists on the orders of the Secretary of State for War, Winston Churchill. The raids were motivated by the theft of a large arms shipment from the BSA Factory, and they resulted in the beating and arrest of several residents of the neighborhood, as well as the desecration of the local Catholic church while Campbell and his men searched for the stolen arms shipment there. They also searched the Guns, the Chain, and the Marquis Pubs, which paid protection to Peaky Blinders leader Tommy Shelby, but they failed to inspect The Garrison Pub. Shelby had his men repay the owners of the pubs and hire some veterans to clean up the pubs, and he decided not to parley while he was on the back foot, instead intending on striking a blow back first. Shelby had his men round up portraits of the king and start a nighttime bonfire on Watery Lane, causing a reporter from the Birmingham Evening Dispatch to cover the event. Shelby told the reporter that the people did not want the King to look down on the crimes committed by the Specials, who broke into the people's homes and interfered with their women, and that the fires were meant to raise the alarm. Shelby then said that he had won gallantry medals at the Battle of the Somme, and that many of the protesters were veterans who had been disrespected by the government. Around midnight, Churchill called Campbell to ask him about the bonfire at 9:00 PM, and he said that the story could not become public until it was passed by the Home Office. He therefore warned Campbell not to make any arrests so that they could not lead to trials and more newspaper reports, and criticized his lack of progress.